Automatic overhead door



June 18, N ROS G v AUTOMATIC OVERHEAD DOOR Filed Nov. 10, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet'l In O O 3 M n z m E m m FIG. 5.

. IN VEN TOR. EDGA R N. R 05E NBERG June 18, 1946. N R SENBERG 2,402,295

AUTOMATIC OVERHEAD DOOR Filed Nov. 10, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. EDGAR N. ROSENBERG m/ M A TTORNEYS.

Patented June 18, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC OVERHEAD noon Edgar N. Rosenberg, Salt Lake cm, Utah Application November 10, 1943, Serial No. 509,777

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to an automatic overhead door especially suitable for use in public or private V garages or the like.

It is an object of this invention to provide an automatic overhead door which is much simpler in construction and in operation than conventional overhead garage doors.

A further object of this invention is to provide an overhead garage door whose operating mechanism is fairly simple and necessitates only a minimum of installation and upkeep, and which may be installed in practically any garage, particularly in thatit does not necessitate the use of a trackway or any heavy or complicated spring. mechanism, and further does not have any mechanism that clutters up the overhead space in the garage, thus eliminating any interference with the utilization of any available overhead space for storage or other purposes.

A further object of this invention is to provide an overhead door for a. .garage or the like that utilizes no more overhead space when it is open than the thickness of the door itself except at the edges, where only thickness of the hangers is added to the doors, as a result of which only two or three inches of space is occupied when the door is open except at the side edges, where about four to six inches is occupied. A result of this feature isthat this invention can be utilized in garages having a comparatively low ceiling.

A further object of this invention is to provide an overhead opening garagedoor which may be so perfectly counterbalanced that it can be both opened and closed with a minimum of effort, and in face, may be made partially self opening, on release by any conventional latch, without appreciably increasing the closing effort, which closing effort will remain so little that it may be closed by the operator of the car as it is being driven from the garage.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for closing the door which may be. operated by the driver of the car as he drives the car out, which means commences operation after the car has cleared the garage, and then, after the closin operation has been completed, the operating means, except for the handle, automatically returns to within the garage.

A further object of this invention is to provide a garage door which in closed position fits snugly against the door jamb and which in open position is entirely within the garage and does not protrude beyond the door jamb, as a result of which, the door does not have to be the exact size of the door jamb opening, but instead, is

somewhat larger than the door jamb. Further, N

there need be no exact relationship between the size of the door and the opening in the door jamb, and hence, the-door will make a tight fit when closed even though size relationship of the door and jamb mayvary in various conditions of temperature or weather, as when one or both may be of wood.

A further object of this invention is to provide a torque tube which connects the operating hangers, insuringproper alignment of the door edges and the door 'iamb to provide a tight fit when closed. P

A further object of this invention is to provide a door that may be adjusted to be automatically self-opening on release of a conventional latch, but may be so-adjusted that it needs a slight amount of force to initiate the opening movement, and then will complete the opening-move- A and arrangements of parts, hereinafter set forth, disclosed, and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-.-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the-garage door and operating mechanism as viewed from the inside of the garage with the door in closed position. Fig. 2 is an end view on the arrows 2-2 of Fig. l, with the door in half open position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 1, i

but with the door in full open position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the door hangers showing one of the door pivots in an exploded view.

There is shown at ill a door which is used as part of this invention. This door may be of any suitable material, such as wood or light or heavy metal, the only requirement being that its frame work I I be of sufiicient strength that it may have its entire weight supported by a pair of pintle as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

The pivot pintles [3 are extended through journal plates l6 which are provided with journal apertures l1 and are secured as by bolts Hi to hanger arms 20 and 2|, the arm 2| being some- 3 what longer than the hanger arm 26. The hanger arms 20 and 2| are fastened by metal straps 22 to a tubular torque shaft 23 which in turn is journalled between an angle bracket 24 and a fixed semi-sheave bracket 25, the brackets 24 and 25 being firmly secured to the cross beam 26 of the door jamb M. The straps 22 are firmly secured on the torque shaft 23 as by welding or by any other suitable manner, so that the arms 20 and 2| will always remain parallel to each other and thus always keep the journal apertures |1 axially aligned with each other during operation. As thus far described, the arms 20 and 2| may pivot about the journals in brackets24 and 25, and in turn, the door ||J may pivot freely about its center of gravity at the pintles l3 in their journal apertures I1.

The door ID has its weight slightly more than counterbalanced by means of a weight 26 of suitable size supported by a flexible cable 21 which passes over a sheave 28 suitably secured to the overhead 30 in the garage. The other end of the flexible cable 21 is secured to a clevis 3| in which is journaled a trolley wheel 32 which runs on a track 33 secured along the arm 2|. As shown,

the track 33 consists of a flexible cable one end of which is fastened to an anchor pin 34 selectively placed in one of the anchor holes 35 in the extended end 36 of arm 2| and the other end of which is fastened to an anchor hole 31 in bracket 24. Obviously, track 33 may be made substantially rigid by shortening it to the length of the arm 2|, in which case, if desired, a rigid track could be used instead, but the flexible cable 33 shown is cheaper and simpler. As a result of this trolley connection of the weight 26 to the track 33, the fulcrum point at which the end 36 counterbalances the door I shifts from near the journalling end of arm 2| when the door is closed to near the extended end 34 thereof beyond the door journal aperture l1. Hence, while the weight 26 is more than that of the weight of the door J0, the weight 26 will greatly assist in moving the door from either position to the other, but will not initiate the movement of the door from either position to the other. However, a suitable weight may be used that will perform in Fig. 1, the idler pulleys 42 on finger 43 carried by arm cause one end of cable 4| to wrap about the periphery of sheave bracket and simultaneously the other end unwraps from its periphery and the pulley 40 is caused to rotate one hundred eighty degrees in clockwise direction, thus swinging the door Hi from the position shown in Fig. 1 through the position shown in Fig. 2 to the open position shown in Fig. 3. A slight push on the outer face 38 of door I0. or a slight lifting action on the inner face of the door I0 in closed position, after releasing any I latch or lock if present, is all that is necessary to the complete opening operation when the latch journal apertures I! so, that the outer face 38 of the door If! in closed position assumes the u per position in open position, This action results.

from the action of a gear train consisting of the pulley 40 Which is keyed to the end of the pivot pintle |3 that extends through the journal place I? on arm 20, so that rotation of pulley 40 causes corresponding rotation of door H]. A flexible cable 4| passing one or more times around the pulley 40 has its end extending past small idler pulleys 42 on a pulley finger 43 secured on arm 20, to the diametrically opposite circumferential ends of the semi-sheave bracket 25, to which the ends are anchored as at 44 and 45. Of course. any other type of gear train could be used instead. To insure against the cable 4| from slipping on the pulley 46, it may be suitably tied thereto at one point. If of wire cable, the tie may be by means of a spot weld. The ratio of the diameter of the sheave bracket 25 is to the pulley 7 which time the cord slack is taken up, and block initiate opening movement, and the action of the weight. 26 will complete the opening movement.

To close the door II] to the closed position of Fig. 1, it may be positively pulled down from the open position of Fig. 3. To enable the closing action to be performed by an operator of a car as it is driven from the garage, a closure handle 46 is provided on the end of a cord 41- on the outside of the garage. The cord 41 extends through a spooled aperture 48 in the door jamb l4 and then through a spooled aperture 50 in hanger arm 20 close to its pivot pintle journal end. A block 4| is secured on cord 41 an appropriate distance behind the arm 2|]. However, instead of ending here, the cord 41 continues over a sheave 52 secured to the overhead 30 and then through a sheave 53 supporting a small weight 54 and then is anchored at 55 to the overhead 30.

In operation, to open the door, from the inside, it is given an initial lift until the trolley 32 has moved the fulcrum of the weight 26 until the door is over balanced, and the door continued to the open position. From the outside, after the latch or look, if present, is released, a pushing action on the outside of the door accomplishes the same result. If desired, this outside push ma be caused by the car bumper, but insuch casev it would probably be desirable to permanently place a reinforcing buffer on the outer side of the door at car bumper height. when'leaving the garage in the car, the handle 46 is grasped by the car-operator as he passes the door jamb. Due to the slack between the sheave 52 and its anchor end 55, the handl 46 moves out freely until the car is clear of the door jamb, at

5| on the cord 41 abuts arms 20, drawing the door H] to the closed position, where the fulcrum of the trolley 32 makes it impossible for the weight light 26 to initiate reopening of the door, thus leaving it closed. With a suitable heavier weight. only the latch keeps the door closed. The handle 46 is then released, whereupon weight; 54 takes up the slack in the cord 41 and draws handle 46 up against spooled aperture 48 in door jamb |4.

While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail, it is obvious that this invention is not to be considered limited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes may be made therein within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a door pivoted to han downw r l in a substantially vertical plane when closed and adapted to be swung upwardly from the down ward position to an open position at an angle to the downward position, means for counterbalancing the weight of the door as it is moved from one position to the other, said means comprising a track, the opposite ends of said track being operatively secured to said door at spaced points To close the door 5 above and below the center of gravity of the door when the door is in its closed position, a trolley operable along said track, a flexible means secured to said trolley, a counterweight secured to said flexible means, and a sheave for said flexible means mounted above the topmost position of the center of gravity of the door.

2. In a door pivoted to hang downwardly in a substantially vertical plane when closed and adapted to be swung upwardly from the downward position to an open position at an angle to the downward position, means for counterbalancing the weight of the door as it is moved from one position to the other, said means comprising a flexible track, the opposite ends of said flexible track being operatively secured to said door at spaced points above and below the center of gravity of the door when the door i in its closed position, a trolley operable along said flexible track, a flexible means secured at one end to said trolley, a counterweight secured to the other end of said flexible means, and a sheave for said flexible means, said sheave being mounted on the side of the door opening toward which the door is to be swung open and above the topmost position of the center of gravity of the door.

3. In a door pivoted to hang downwardly in a substantially vertical plane when closed and adapted to be swung upwardly from the downward position and a position at an angle to the downward position, means for counterbalancing the weight of the door as it is moved from one position to the other, said means comprising a flexible cable, the opposite ends of said flexible cable being operatively secured to said door at spaced points above and below the center of gravity of the door when the door i in its closed position, a trolley operable along said flexible cable, a second flexible cable secured at one end to said trolley, a counterweight secured to the other end of said second flexible cable, and a sheave for said second flexible cable, said sheave being mounted on the side of the door opening toward which the door is to be swung open and above the topmost position of the center of gravity of the door.

EDGAR N. ROSENBERG. 

